starting with discus

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Large Fish
#1
Mar 21, 2006
393
1
0
Penang,Malaysia
#1
ive bought two new discus.ive put them in a 20g tank.their tankmates are mollies,cherry barbs and tetras.my tank temperature is about 82f.but sometimes it will drop till 78f.is it ok for them??can anyone please giv me some first hand experience advice in everything??thanks in advance
 

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TheFool

Large Fish
#6
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#6
Well normally,unless you hve a mated pair, I'd recommend a big tank with lots of clean and warmer than normal water so aa 20 with some incompatible fish and too low water temps is a pretty bad start. In all honesty if you want to go with discus you should research and do it properly otherwise it will likely be a short lived and costly experiment.
FWIW the left hand fish in the photos has a body shape assoc. with stunting and poor nutrition, and the fins are messed up, the right is a bit stunted. Are they still feeding?
 

Fuzz16

Fuzz16

Superstar Fish
#13
Oct 20, 2006
1,918
3
0
Wellsville, KS
#13
feed them a lot of meaty foods, get the other fish out so they can eat. discus are more of scavengers and like to graze for food all day and night. but some vegatation foods would bring out thier color a lot and it is healthy for them as well
 

T

TheFool

Large Fish
#14
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#14
You can't really fix stunting. Discus grow like crazy for a couple of years, then really slow down, and if you get to a year or so and the fish aren't grown, then that's it, they're stunted, and you can't do to much to fix it. What that means is that to a purist they won't look that good, but they can still make nice pets. They won't live as long, for very stunted fish 5 years is decent going ompared to 10+ for a grown adult, but that's still a while. You need to commit to keeping them in clean, warm water so get a heater set it high and say hello to water changes.
 

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Large Fish
#15
Mar 21, 2006
393
1
0
Penang,Malaysia
#15
yup,ill make more WC.the first 1 really eat alot bt the second 1 looked dull but still chase for food but dont know why it wont eat the food.nevermind im going to get a 35G real soon.but another 2 question,what is the example of veggie food n what shld i do with the bully?
 

T

TheFool

Large Fish
#17
Apr 19, 2006
323
2
0
#17
If it continues you'll end up parting them else the smaller will pack in eating and starve to death. Small discus are mean, they should be kept in big groups
 

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Large Fish
#19
Mar 21, 2006
393
1
0
Penang,Malaysia
#19
ohh ok.i just bought them tetrabits.they wont eat it,they will eat it and spit it out,is this common?i got an agreement with my lfs to let me keep my frozen food in their fridge,thats why i cant provide them bloodworms everyday.do i needt to train them to eat tetrabits?
 

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